Alabama Speeding Laws

Basic Speed Rule: No person shall drive a vehicle at a speed
greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard
to the actual and potential hazards than existing. AL § 32-5A-170

Penalty for Exceeding Speed Limit

A first time violator may be:

fined not more than $100, and

sentenced to jail time of not more than 10 days, and

the violator’s license may be suspended not more than one
year.

Penalty for Reckless Driving

A first time violator may be:

fined between $25 and $500,

sentenced to jail time of not more than 90 days, and

the violator’s license may be suspended not more than six
months.

Speed Limits

30 MPH in any urban district

35 MPH on any unpaved road

45 MPH on any county-maintained paved road in an
unincorporated

55 MPH on highways (except interstate highways or highways
with 4 or more lanes)

Alabama Speed Limit Law

Alabama has what is known as an “absolute” speed limit law.
There is no trick to how this works: If the sign says 40 mph and you drive 41
mph or more, you have violated the law. In other words, you are guilty if you
drive over the speed limit. In Alabama you may be able to make three possible
defenses:

Attacking
the officer’s determination of your speed. To do this you must discover what
method the officer used to cite you and then learn about the ways to attack
that particular method.

Claiming an
emergency forced you to exceed the speed limit to avoid serious damage or
injury to yourself or others.

Claiming
that the officer mistook your car for another car. With so many similar-looking
cars, it is possible that a cop could see a speeding car, lose sight of it
around a corner, and then wrongly pick out your car farther down the road.

Note that in Alabama you can be ticketed for driving at an
unsafe speed, even if that speed does not violate the posted limit -- for
example, driving exactly at the maximum mph posted limit on the freeway amidst
slower and heavy traffic, in a dense fog, or in a driving rainstorm or
blizzard.